With snow predicted for tonight and a saw-whet owl expedition planned for tomorrow, my winter birding has officially begun!

Why Geese are Smarter than People

Above- Shore park brant near sunset.

My local waterfowl spot in winter is Shore Park, a small grassy area with a playground that borders the long island sound on two sides. I have found 9 species of waterfowl there, including all three mergansers and a Black Duck x Mallard hybrid.

So I was slightly worried when I saw the column in the local paper claiming victory in the war against the geese. There are large flocks of canada geese and brant that reside at the park, and most people (birders excluded) don't like them. True, the grass is constantly covered in droppings, and I can see how people might not want that, so the efforts were probably justified. The town bought some sort of lightbulb thing that was installed at knee-height, and is supposed to look like light reflecting off the eyes of a predator. This would make the geese uncomfortable, and they would not sleep there.

I was a bit concerned that the light would drive off all the other waterfowl too, which would make a waterfowl spot somewhat useless (the whole lack of waterfowl thing). I shouldn't have worried.

The first time I biked down this winter, it seemed as though the light was working. That didn't hurt the birding any though. Shore park was completely goose free, but the neighboring yard was covered in geese. I bet the people who owned that house were a lot less amused by that than I was.

The second time I checked, it seemed as though the town was wrong. The park did not actually have any geese on it (they were in the water), but it was again covered in droppings.

I have to look again sometime, but it seem like the geese have the upper hand here.

An imagined converstion between two geese:

Goose 1- Hey, that coyote still hasn't moved.

Goose 2- Yeah, its been in that exact same spot for 3 months.

Goose 1- Pretty stupid coyote. You think it's dead?

Goose 2- Maybe. Lets check it out.

Goose 1- Wait! That's a light! Not a coyote.

Goose 2- Wow. You mean we've been avoiding that place for months because of a light?

Goose 1- Well, at least it's not a coyote. We can go back there now.

Goose 2- Nice.

Looking Foward to Costa Rica

This February, I am going with my family for ~10 days to Costa Rica. As many birders know, Costa Rica is a birding paradise. And though, unfortunately, the primary focus of the trip is not birding, I have been able to work a few stops into the itinerary and am hoping for some great birds. Some stops at Savegre Mountain Lodge, Carara NP, and Monteverde Cloud Forest should get me good numbers and great sightings.

To assist in id'ing the many (850+) bird species that live in costa rica, I purchased the field guide shown above, and have been reading it almost constantly since I got it.

The birds of costa rica include dazzling tanagers (speckled, emerald, red-legged and green honeycreepers), awesome hummingbirds (violet sabrewing, black-crested coquette, fiery-throated hummingbird), bizzare or unique species (sunbittern, three-wattled bellbird, bare-necked umbrellabird) and some of the most beautiful birds in the world (lovely cotinga, quetzal, scarlet macaw), as well as the usual tropical contingent of manakins, parrots, motmots, euphonias, and toucans.

Jealous Yet?

Sign of Winter

I just put up my bird feeders again this week and already have a couple juncos. Juncos, which spend the cold months of winter here but summer in Canada, are a sure sign of winter.

The winter finch forecast doesn't look great, but winter birding is still really fun. Cold, but fun.

Below- My feeder setup. See the juncos?

Comments Welcome

By now my hits counter has reached 160, so at least some people have to be looking at this blog. I even have huge numbers (1) of followers.

Anyway, there have only been 4 comments ever posted on this blog. Of those 4, 3 of them were me. I am looking for input on the blog, etc.

So, feel free to comment on any posts or anything about this blog.

Just to start off with a couple (hopefully) comment-getting questions:

What is your favorite bird? (A simple question to start off) Mine are Northern Gannets, though if I see a sunbittern this February in costa rica it will jump to the top.

I am going to Costa Rica in February. Has anyone ever been? Any recommended spots?

Who uses a spotting scope? What is the price range? Any recommendations?